The collected articles of Ariel Natan Pasko from 2017/5777 on.
Ariel is an independent analyst and consultant, he is hard-hitting and writes with academic thoroughness and humor. Ariel has a Masters Degree specializing in International Relations, Political Economy and Policy Analysis, and also BAs in Economics, Politics, and Jewish History and Thought. His articles appear regularly on numerous news/views and think-tank websites and in newspapers.

Saturday, October 14, 2017

Netanyahu, Tell the World the Truth!

This past Shabbat, all
across the Jewish world, the yearly Sabbath Torah reading was begun
anew with Bereshit, the beginning of Genesis. With the recent
reconciliation agreement signed between Hamas and Fatah looming in
the background, Trump’s push to renew “peace” negotiations
between Israel and the Palestinians is seemingly on track again.

Traditionally, every Jewish
child who learned Torah was taught the text and the commentary of
Rashi – Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki – the famous 11th century French
Biblical and Talmudic commentator. In the beginning, literally, of
Genesis, Rashi asks a question, “Why does the Torah start with the
story of creation? Since the Torah is a book of laws for the Jewish
People, why doesn't it begin with the first law given by G-d to the
Jews, the law for establishing a calendar?” He answers that it
starts with the creation narrative to establish that G-d is the
Master of the Universe. Then, Rashi says the most amazing thing that
still resonates almost a thousand years later. Based on earlier
sources and a thorough knowledge of the meaning of Judaism, Rashi
says, “So that if the nations come to Israel and say, you are
thieves – in Hebrew, she-kevash-tem, you conquered and
occupied – the land from the nations living there, you can tell
them that all the universe is G-d's, He created it and gave it to the
nations, and when He decided, He took it from them and gave it to
us.”

Three things have become starkly clear.

First, that Rashi’s
explanation of the Torah has in fact come true. The nations today
claim, as Rashi explained they would, that we stole the land from
others, namely the so-called Palestinians. Second, the Israeli Left
has used for years the same Hebrew root/term – kibush,
occupation – as to denigrate the miraculous victory of the 1967
Six-Day War. It is the same term, “occupation”, used by most of
the world in their criticism of Israeli policies in the
“territories”. Even Ariel Sharon used it at one point. It is the
language of self-hating Jews – those disconnected from Jewish
history and tradition – and the Judeo-paths among the nations.
Occupation is when you steal someone else’s land. The Jewish People
liberated parts of their Promised Homeland in stages, first in 1948
and then in 1967 with G-d’s help. The Jewish People didn’t
“steal” anything. And finally, that the only basis for the Jewish
People’s national life in their homeland is G-d’s promise as set
down in the Bible; not history, not security, but G-d's promise to
their forefathers.

Rashi told the Jewish People
to tell the world, “He took it from them and gave it to us.”

A
true Israeli leader needs to stand up, not frightened of anyone or
anything, and declare, “The Master of the Universe took it from
them and gave it to us.” The Promised Land belongs to the Jews
exclusively, and not to any other nation.

Any Israeli
prime minister who can't get on TV or go to the UN General Assembly,
or any other meeting with world leaders and say these words, should
either quit or commit suicide before rejecting the promises of G-d
and participating in a process to help another group take over part
of the Land of Israel. As King David said, “If I forget you
Jerusalem” - a term for the entire Land of Israel - “let my right
hand wither” - rather than sign any false peace agreement - “let
my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth....” (Psalms 137: 5-6)
rather than agree to foreigners taking over part of the Jewish
People's homeland.

If someone can blow themselves up to
gain a state not their own, if kamikaze pilots can kill themselves in
war, if soldiers can risk their lives in suicide missions, then the
Israeli prime minister can quit or “step out” rather than lie to
the world.

Netanyahu, tell the world the truth, “He
took it from them and gave it to us.”

Every Jew, in
fact, every Christian and Muslim, knows that the Land of Israel was
promised to the Children of Israel, the Jewish People, by G-d,
forever. The same G-d they claim to worship. The British pro-Zionists
who worked to convince her majesty’s government to issue the
Balfour Declaration in 1917, believed in the Divine Promise to the
Jews. So, why continue to perpetuate this lie called the “Peace
Process”? The Palestinians might gain some temporary control over
the land – like in Gaza – for G-d’s own reasons, but in the
end, it will be taken from them anyway and returned to its rightful
tenants, the Jewish People – I didn’t say owners, because G-d is
the only true owner of everything.

It is true that a
democratically elected government in Israel might choose, for
political expediency, to transfer control over parts of the Jewish
People’s homeland to others, like what happened in Gush Katif –Jewish Gaza; and that, in
political terms, it might be seen as legitimate; but, in the Court of
Final Justice, above, there never will be any Spiritual Legitimacy to
the act. Anyone going against the will of G-d will ultimately have to
account for their actions. Reward and punishment is a basic concept
in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Heaven help those who try to
take away the Divinely Promised Land from the Jewish People. Look
what happened to Rabin, Sharon, Olmert, and countless others involved
in the “Disengagement”...

Why lie to the Palestinians?
Why make them believe they are right, that Israel “stole” their
land? Why participate in a peace process? Why fool them into
believing that Israel will give them land and a state?

Netanyahu, tell the world the
truth, “He took it from them and gave it to us.”

What’s most important
for Israeli leaders and the world to understand is, that no matter
what the Israeli government decides to do, it has no Religious
Legitimacy in Judaism. No Israeli leader or government has the moral,
historical, or spiritual right to take away parts of the Promised
Land from the Jewish People and give it to others. It’s not theirs
to do with as they please; the Land of Israel is an inheritance from
G-d and it is not for one generation to decide what to do with it. It
is also for all future generations of Jews. It will never be accepted
by Jews steeped in their heritage and tradition, or by G-d.

“Ani Ma'amin...” I
believe with complete faith in the coming of the Messiah, and even if
he takes a long time to come, I believe every day, he’s coming! It
is one of the thirteen principles of faith as codified by Maimonides.
The Jews will get back their homeland; the Palestinians will not have
a state. So why start now, so close to his coming?

The
Land of Israel was promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

The Master of the Universe
told them that even though their children will suffer terrible exiles
– an educational and cleansing process – in the end, He would
bring them home. In the 1948 War of Independence, G-d gave political
sovereignty to the Jews for the first time in almost 2,000 years. In
the 1967 Six-Day War, G-d returned the Holy City of Jerusalem in its
entirety – including eastern Jerusalem and the Temple Mount – to
the Jewish People. Hebron – Judaism’s second holiest city –
with the Cave of the Patriarchs, the burial place of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, and King David’s first capital city, before Jerusalem –
was returned as well. Truthfully, Judea and Samaria – the so-called
West Bank – is drenched in Jewish history and Jewish holy sites.
That’s why it’s commonly referred to as the “Biblical
Heartland”.

The Jewish People have been
brought home.

Those who have built their world-view on
security needs and have claimed that we cannot allow a Palestinian
state to come into existence because of that, have missed the point.
The Palestinians, and the world, are playing the “Peace Card”.
Even if they promised up and down, that there would be a thousand
years of “Peace”, how can Israel spurn G-d’s promise?

Once
there was a nice family who lived in a rough neighborhood. They
wanted to get along with their neighbors, but the neighbors hated
them, and used to throw rocks and break their windows all the time.
One day, the leader and toughest of the neighbors came over and said,
this is my house, and demanded it. The owner, father of the nice
family replied, no it’s not, its mine. The neighbor insisted. Not
wanting any more trouble, the owner invited him in to talk. The
neighbor demanded the house and refused to leave; he threatened the
owner. The owner decided to be nice and offered him a room to stay
in.

Later, the neighbor claimed that the owner’s wife
was in fact his wife. He implied he would kill the owner. The owner
of the house, thought for a moment, my wife, my life, and then
decided to share his wife. Why cause problems, he thought to himself.
The neighbor, emboldened with his successful intimidation, next
claimed the owner’s arm. Give me your arm, or else, he demanded.
Well, the owner had a tough time at first, then he thought, my arm or
my life, hmm, a small price to pay, and he meekly cut off his arm.
Finally, the neighbor demanded, in the most insolent way imaginable,
give me your heart...

The Land of Israel is the Jewish
People’s heart.

Members of the ruling Likud Party and
the National Camp have for years based their claim to the “occupied
territories” on historical claim, and, more importantly, have said
that for security reasons, they couldn’t give them away. The
Israeli Left, in contrast, has argued for quite some time that
control over Judea and Samaria is a security liability and not an
asset. They have argued that the only true security is in “Peace”
with the Arabs and not the status quo. American presidents, from
Clinton to Obama, have basically said the same thing. Trump seems to
be following their examples.

And what about settlement
leaders, those so-called “right-wing extremists”, who spurn all
talk of “Peace”?

When the Israeli cabinet decided to
accept the “Roadmap,” with objections in 2003, the spokesman for
the Yesha Council – of Jewish Settlements in Judea, Samaria,
and Gaza – Yehoshua Mor-Yosef, said, “What is done is done. What
we can do is try to amend the Roadmap and shift it to the right.”
Shift it to the right? It wasn’t a matter of a little shift here
and a little shift there. And, this is a so-called leader of the
“Settlement Movement”! Their unsuccessful resistance to the
expulsion of Jews from Jewish Gaza in 2005 confirmed the failure of
their “moderate” policies.

The Likud, the National
Camp, and the Yesha Council at the time, all missed the point.
The Israeli Left never had it. To the world, well what can we say?
Except, “He took it from them and gave it to us.” There is no
spiritual legitimacy to retreat from the Land of Israel. There is no
spiritual legitimacy in refusing to graciously receive G-d's Promised
Land, and fight for it. There is no spiritual legitimacy to any of
these so-called “Peace” agreements, Oslo, the Roadmap, or any
other future agreement.

Netanyahu, tell the world the
truth, “He took it from them and gave it to us!”

THE THINK TANK by

The collected articles of Ariel Natan Pasko from 2017/5777 on. Ariel is an independent analyst and consultant, he is hard-hitting and writes with academic thoroughness and humor. Ariel has a Masters Degree specializing in International Relations, Political Economy and Policy Analysis, and also BAs in Economics, Politics, and Jewish History and Thought. His articles appear regularly on numerous news/views and think-tank websites and in newspapers. He can be contacted at: ArielNatanPasko@columnist.com